Jaipur, Oct 29 Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said there is no option but to let all the fuel burn at the Indian Oil Corp depot here where containers and tankers went up in flames Thursday evening and claimed over 10 lives and injuring over 150.
'This is unprecedented in India,' said Deora, who arrived early morning to take stock of the situation, even as experts were brought in both from the Mathura refinery of Indian Oil and the Bombay High oil wells, off the Mumbai shore.
'We will have to let all the fuel burn. Only then will experts be able to go anywhere near the site,' Deora told reporters here after a visit to the site with senior officials of the state-run company. 'We expect the fuel to burn out by evening.'
He said he will also order an inquiry into the matter but after due consultations with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The extent of damage was also being ascertained, he added.
The oil minister said the cause of fire was being ascertained but some eyewitnesses said the fire broke out after gas leaked from one of the tanks, which also caused a loud explosion. The flames could be seen from a distance of over 15 km.
The company has 11 huge tanks and all of them were seen burning. Around 25 fire tenders were pressed into service.
'The incident occurred at around 7.15 p.m. and we immediately pressed ambulances and fire tenders into service,' a district administration official told IANS, adding. 'As a precautionary measure we have evacuated the nearby villages.'
The injured have been admitted to the government-run SMS Hospital and the nearby Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, he said.
'I work in a factory very near the area. As soon as the fire broke out, we rushed out of our factory. We also heard a couple of loud explosions,' Ramkumar, a worker in a small factory, said.
Amit Agarwal, a student of a private engineering college around 2 km away from the site, said the glass panes of his building were shattered due to the explosions.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Jaipur Experience's Summer on a Winter Night.......
Monday, October 19, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
15-years old Indian student's idea selected by Stanford University
According to Professor Anil Gupta, Vice-Chairperson, National Innovation Foundation (NIF), which conducts IGNITE every year, Stanford University has already given a token amount of $1,000 to develop a prototype if feasible. "The girl has provided the idea. But we need technical assistance to make it work. Stanford University has come forward to try out if human pulse can be used to charge an e-book they have developed."After hearing this news, Sarojini said, "I can't believe it's true. I had thought of this idea last year but never told anyone till Neena ma'am once asked for crazy ideas in the class. It was just an idea which has become so big now. Sarojini recalled that she was just sitting once when she thought of watches that run on the human pulse. I wondered if mobiles could be charged using the pulse too." Neena Punj is Sarojini's teacher and guide.Sarojini teamed up with her teacher to develop her idea further who had by then decided to send her entry to IGNITE this year. They both worked for nearly four months and conceived a charging system in which sensors would be placed on the cell phone. Holding it in hand in a particular way would charge it using the heat of the palm. Sarojini's recognition has got other students thinking too. Punj said, "Students have a lot of ideas and some of are absolutely crazy. Many of them will be motivated to share them now. I have already started getting new ideas from students." Anjali Agarwal fully agreed with Punj and said, "Sarojini has been a topper in class and though she loves science, she neither wants to become an engineer nor a doctor." "I may become a scientist but I have yet to plan," said Sarojini. All those students, whose ideas have been selected, will be awarded President Pratibha Patil on November 18. IGNITE is being organized since 2007 across the country in partnership with the CBSE. This year, it was organized between April 15 and September 15. Gujarat-based NIF (National Innovation Foundation) received 1,344 entries from 21 states. But out of all these, Sarojini's idea generated in the classroom may eventually turn into an invention. Professor Gupta said, "We were already in touch with Paul Kim from Stanford University who wanted us to have a competition to find the joyful ways of charging their e-book . We told them that we already had such an entry and they agreed to take it up."
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Monday, September 28, 2009
India's hopes of making it to CT semi-finals dashed
Saturday, September 26, 2009
ICC Champions Trophy Schedule 2009
The complete ICC Champions Trophy Schedule or Timetable 2009 is given below:
Schedule of ICC Champions Trophy 2009
| Group A | India | Pakistan | West Indies | Australia |
| Group B | South Africa | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | England |
| Date | Time (GMT) | Match Details | Venue |
| September 22 | 12:30 | South Africa v Sri Lanka, 1st Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Centurion (D/N) |
| September 23 | 12:30 | Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Johannesburg (D/N) |
| September 24 | 07:30 | South Africa v New Zealand, 3rd Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Centurion |
| September 25 | 12:30 | England v Sri Lanka, 4th Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Johannesburg (D/N) |
| September 26 | 07:30 | Australia v West Indies, 5th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Johannesburg |
| September 26 | 12:30 | India v Pakistan, 6th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Centurion (D/N) |
| September 27 | 07:30 | New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 7th Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Johannesburg |
| September 27 | 12:30 | South Africa v England, 8th Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Centurion (D/N) |
| September 28 | 12:30 | Australia v India, 9th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Centurion (D/N) |
| September 29 | 12:30 | England v New Zealand, 10th Match, Group B, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Johannesburg (D/N) |
| September 30 | 07:30 | Australia v Pakistan, 11th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Centurion |
| September 30 | 12:30 | India v West Indies, 12th Match, Group A, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Johannesburg (D/N) |
October 2009 | |||
| Date | Time (GMT) | Match Details | Venue |
| October 02 | 12:30 | A1 v B2, 1st Semi-Final, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Centurion (D/N) |
| October 03 | 12:30 | B1 v A2, 2nd Semi-Final, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Johannesburg (D/N) |
| October 05 | 12:30 | Final, ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Centurion (D/N) |
India loses to Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophyy
A charged-up Gautam Gambhir gave India's chase a rollicking start, but his first error, a lazy piece of running, let Pakistan back in when he was threatening to make the chase seem like a cakewalk. Shahid Afridi then got his foot in the door, removing Virat Kohli and and MS Dhoni in quick succession.
Gambhir's 46-ball 57 had taken India to 90 for 1 in the 14th over, when Rahul Dravid hit firmly to a close mid-off, called him for a single and sent him back. Gambhir, though, didn't make a desperate effort to dive or sprint back, and was undone by a direct-hit from Younis Khan. Replays showed a dive could have saved his wicket. All the way back Gambhir kept admonishing himself for leaving the job unfinished. Nonetheless that half job was sensational, especially after Mohammad Aamer had taken out Sachin Tendulkar early.
Tendulkar's wicket in a big match will definitely be one of the highs of Aamer's career, but he was soon shown the lows by Gambhir. He was carted over mid-on and pulled to fine leg for fours, and then he bowled a no-ball. The free hit landed into the crowd behind the square-leg boundary. Aamer was not alone in helping Gambhir along. In all Aamer and Umar Gul gave him four free hits; two of them went for sixes, one for four, and one was a dot.
Gambhir's innings wasn't pretty - he got only four runs in the "V", clearing the font leg and hitting over the leg side was a key part of the knock. That onslaught let Dravid settle in, without letting the required run-rate creep up. Gul helped him further by serving up the fifth free hit of the innings, which crashed into the midwicket boundary. By halfway mark, Pakistan had given away 22 runs through no-balls and free hits to go with eight wides. India in comparison gave away 12 wides and no no-balls.
Dravid and Kohli focused on rotating the strike, and added 36 in 7.2 overs when Kohli looked to loft Shahid Afridi straight down the ground, but the turn took it to long-off. Afridi proceeded to rip one legbreak across Dravid. When Dhoni, unsettled by the pitch, stepped out to him, missed, and was hit in the front for the second time, he was given out boldly by Simon Taufel, which left India a huge task in last quarter of the match.
If this was a game of chess, Pakistan's openers looked to play the blitz version, but it was the more orthodox game from Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik that carried Pakistan to a formidable total in their first international against India in close to a year and a half. The old formula of doubling the 30-over score still applied to Pakistan, as they accelerated from 139 for 3 after 31 overs to score 163 in the last 19. In the process they made a mockery of the view that middle overs in ODIs have become formulaic and boring.
Those late-middle overs also featured the biggest blow to India, the negating of Harbhajan Singh through easily milked singles, and craftily late-cut boundaries. Habhajan's already poor record against Pakistan now reads 10 wickets in 15 ODIs, at an average of 71.1 and a strike-rate of 87.6. Following the trend, Malik improved his already strong record against India: four of his seven centuries have now come against them, and his average of 52.24 against India is a stark contrast to his 35.27 overall. He also crossed 5000 ODI runs during the innings, and 1515 of those have come against his favourite opposition.
India's pace bowlers seemed to have made a remarkable comeback from the openers' onslaught when they reduced Pakistan from 51 for 1 in seven overs to 65 for 3 in 15. The first seven overs had featured nine smashing boundaries, the next eight none. The strike was not being rotated, and MS Dhoni took that opportunity to delay the introduction of Harbhajan, and get through some cheap overs from the part-timers. He needed all the cheap overs he could get from the part-timers because one of his main bowlers, RP Singh, was completely off tune.
Malik, especially, looked like going nowhere, his score at various stages of the innings reading 3 off 16, 10 off 31, and then 34 off 69. By that same time, Yousuf, his usual silken self, had reached 35 off 45 almost unnoticed, having hit just one boundary, that too off a rank long hop from Virat Kohli.
And then Yousuf signaled intent, not with a big winding shot, but with a deft late cut off Yusuf Pathan in the 32nd over. Malik followed suit, and guided Harbhajan to the third-man boundary in the next over. In the over after that both Yousuf and Malik cut Pathan for boundaries, and suddenly the Indian bowlers started getting rattled.
| ||
Malik became especially severe, welcoming Ishant Sharma back with three boundaries in one over. Dhoni then brought RP back, and he went for back-to-back boundaries against Malik, who had started toying with the unimaginative bowling, going over extra cover, beating third man on both sides, and also hitting the odd straight shot. By the end of the 40th over, Malik had reached 84 off 98, and more was to come.
Yousuf was not exactly slow at the other end, his boundaries through point and over extra cover, both off RP, were a treat to watch. But he missed a well-deserved century by 13 runs, losing his middle stump to the India's only saving grace, Ashish Nehra, in the 46th over. Their 206-run stand took just 188 legal deliveries and broke their own record for the fourth wicket against India. Malik, though, wasn't done yet. He had one higher gear left and the last five overs being the batting Powerplay helped. He rearranged Nehra's decent figures before holing out to Harbhajan's last delivery of the innings.
Despite the late flurry of wickets, and a two-run last over from Ishant, Pakistan managed 41 in the last five overs, setting India five more than has ever been chased in Centurion.
Monday, September 21, 2009
36 lakh applications for 11,000 SBI jobs
According to an official close to the development, the factors which are responsible for the response, is the recession and a freeze on recruitments in both the public and private sectors. "This was the first ad after a long time for recruitment to a nationalized bank, and therefore the deluge," the official said to The Economic Times. By looking at such a high demand for its jobs, SBI now faces the dilemma of how to conduct exams for such a large number of candidates. "It has been proposed to hold the exams in three phases, on November 8, 15 and 22, in two shifts. This way we can test 12 lakh people every day. The final decision will be taken within a week," the official said. The huge number of vacancies came into being on account of new branches being opened, the longtime freeze on new recruitments and retirement of existing employees. Incidentally, of the 36.11 lakh applications, more than half a million are from Maharashtra and of the 11,000 posts, 1,100 are reserved for the Maharashtra circle.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Innocent techie in jail, sues Airtel for Rs. 20 Crores
Kailash was a successful software engineer with HCL and was working in Bangalore. Two years ago, Pune Police team in Bangalore had arrested him for 'defaming Shivaji' in a picture he was supposed to have put up on Orkut. Police was fed with wrong IP address by Airtel, who searched for the IP for two days. The police traced the IP, which belonged to Kailash and arrested him and did not let him go even after the police claimed to have caught the real culprits about two weeks after his arrest.Maharashtra Human Rights Commission asked Airtel to cough up Rs. 2 lakh as compensation, but Airtel did not do so. Now, its top executives have been summoned by a magistrate court in Bangalore. "Its a small amount for them and I really don't understand why they are not paying up. They have to follow court orders. They are citizens of India, whether they think they are guilty or not is secondary," says Kailash.Since Airtel has not paid any kind of compensation so far, Kailash has moved to National Consumer Disputes Forum and now seeks a compensation of Rs. 20 crores. "You can't scale those horrible moments in money. I feel it's a less amount with respect to the trauma I went through because I have to carry it throughout my life," says Kailash.
Indian scientist makes encryption 40 percent faster
The new algorithm encrypts the data 30-40 percent faster than the previous ones. The results of the research will appear in October 2009 issue of the 'IEEE Transactions on Information Theory', one of the top research journals in the field of transmission, processing and utilization of information. Sarkar claims that this is the fastest method to encrypt hard disk and says that he has scientific evidence to prove it. "One has to see this in the context of the anonymous and strict review process of the journal 'IEEE Transactions on Information Theory'. The reviewers allowed this claim to stand because I could scientifically justify it in the paper. A hollow claim would have been struck down by the reviewers," he added.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Maruti Launches All New Estilo
From the looks of it, the car boasts of an all new front styling, which includes a revised grill, new headlamps and a macho bumper that has sculpted integrated fog lamps. New wheel covers compliment the entire exterior makeover to give this car a style that is in sync with today's market demands. There is no question about it that Maruti Suzuki has taken the pains in making the new Estilo part of the family and in doing so, they have stripped it of its plain-jane looks and have given it a bolder stance.
The interiors remain largely the same; however subtle touches in terms of color and the two tone chocolate-beige dash do wonders in livening up the interior. Apart from that, the car also comes with a digital fuel indicator as standard. Other accessories on the car include a rear windshield wiper, keyless entry and the CATS security system. Of course the accessories depend on the variant being bought. Maruti Suzuki is also offering the top end Estilo VXi with ABS and two airbags as an optional fitment.Related Story Link
New Estilo: Engine Talk
The biggest change however lies under the hood. Maruti Suzuki has done away with the Wagon R engine and given the new Estilo the famous and KB10 series, 998cc, 3 cylinder petrol engine, which incidentally does duty under the A-Star's hood as well. This engine is more powerful and offers a peppier driving experience. Enhancing the driving experience is the revised gearbox. Gone is the notchy vague feel that plagues the Wagon R and Estilo. The new gearbox is a lot more precise and slots into gears without that vague feeling thanks to the rod mechanism being replaced by cables.
Harley Davidson launching in India
Just a day stands between America's most successful motorcycle-maker from gracing the Indian shores. Yes, we are talking about the iconic and cult brand Harley Davidson, which has enticed and charmed over a million bikers around the world and it continues to do so with the same enthusiasm and energy that it had 108 years back when William S. Harley made his first blueprint drawing of an engine designed to fit into a bicycle.
Harley Davidson has officially announced on its website that the company will make its foray in the fast-emerging and promising Indian market with its range of elite cruiser motorcycles. The model-range and its pricing are still under wraps as the product is yet to be launched. However this is a clear indication of the impact the recent economic showdown has had on the American economy. The US auto giants are now focusing on developing markets such as ours in order to reap the maximum possible benefits they can, to cover up on the lost ground and tap the potential of an emerging economy.
The import route for bikes above 800cc was opened in mid-2007 when the Indian government traded mangoes for Harley Davidson motorcycles. Yes, you read it right. For last 18 years, the Indian mangoes were banned in the US since the American government believed that the Indian farmers were using too many pesticides. In April 2007, the US government lifted the ban on Indian mangoes which meant that the Indian farmers could now be entitled to farm subsidies. In return, the Indian government revised the rule of importing high-capacity powered two-wheelers to India allowing bikes above 800cc to be imported legally in the Indian market.
However, the excise duties charged by the Indian government on 800cc and above capacity imported motorcycles are extremely difficult to overcome in order to gain a manageable profit margin. Hence Harley Davidson, which was the key factor in opening up the import route, held back its foray into India in 2007. The Japanese bike-maker Yamaha was the first one to make use of the import trade policy to launch its flagship model the YZF-R1 and its street-fighter model, the MT-01. Suzuki and Honda have followed suit by bringing in their international flagships to India and now Harley Davidson is all geared up and ready to roll into the country with its extensive range of life-style cruiser motorcycles.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Ferrari 360 Spider
The Ferrari 360 is a mid-engine two-seater sports car produced from late 1999 until 2005. The 360 replaced the Ferrari F355 and was itself replaced by the fairly similar Ferrari F430. For the 360, Ferrari partnered with Alcoa to produce an entirely new all-aluminum space-frame chassis that was 40% stiffer than the 355, yet 28% lighter despite a 10% increase in overall dimensions. Along with the new frame was a new Pininfarina body styling that broke ranks with the last decade’s sharp angles and flip-up headlights, replacing them with a rounded appearance that harkened to the 1960s. The new V8 engine, common to all versions, was only slightly larger and more powerful than the 355’s at 3.6 litres and 300 kW (400 bhp) of power, but the lighter frame and added stiffness improved performance; the 0 to 100 km/h acceleration performance improved from 4.6 to 4.4 seconds, and in the Challenge versions it was as low as 4.0 s. An engine replacement resulted in the current V8 road model, the F430 (internally referred to as the evoluzione or evo) which came out in 2004.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Swine flu vaccine should be Avilable by September
The first swine flu vaccines are likely to be licensed for use in the general population in September, the World Health Organization has announced.
Several manufacturers have produced initial batches of a H1N1 vaccine and some clinical trials are already underway.
WHO director of vaccine research Dr Marie-Paule Kieny also sought to calm fears about safety of new vaccines.
She said the vaccines were based on "old and proven technology".
Figures show continuing rises in cases in the southern hemisphere in the past seven days.
Argentina has particularly seen a large increase and deaths now stand at 337.
And there has been a rise in cases of 25% in Australia
Although it has not yet been clarified who would be first in line for a vaccine, it is likely to be those who are most vulnerable, such as pregnant women and young children.
Some experts have raised concerns about the lack of safety data on flu vaccines in these groups.
In particular, a very rare neurological condition called Guillain Barre syndrome affected 500 people during a US vaccine programme against swine flu in 1976.
Dr Kieny said much was known about flu vaccines in these groups from seasonal vaccines given every winter and added that regulatory agencies would be monitoring for any signs of adverse reaction.
"The quality controls on today's vaccine are much better than they were 30 years ago," she added.
Fast track
Regulators in the US and Europe have special plans in place to fast-track swine flu vaccines, some of which are based on conventional seasonal flu vaccines and some which use newer technology.
Clinical trials are already underway in China, Australia, USA, UK, and Germany.
It comes as drug company, Baxter, has announced the production of the first commercial batches of its swine flu vaccine Celvapan.
 |  The quality controls on today's vaccine are much better than they were 30 years ago  Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO |
The vaccine has been grown using cell culture, a much faster method than the traditional way of growing it in eggs.
Baxter is one of two companies contracted to provide pandemic flu vaccine to the UK, the other being GlaxoSmithKline, and both plan to start clinical trials this month.
One key part of the trials is to work out whether people need one or two doses of the vaccine.
Ministers have repeatedly said they expect to have enough doses for half the UK population by the end of the year.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Pune-based institute in race to develop vaccine for Swine flu
SIIL successfully developed small quantities of the vaccine, required for animal trials, within three weeks of receiving the sample strains from the World Health Organization (WHO). The company is currently developing a seed bank and a standardisation process to proceed to the animal trial stage. If successful, the vaccine-specialised drug maker will invest over Rs 80 crore to set up manufacturing facilities for the vaccine, SIIL Executive Director Dr Suresh Jadhav told Business Standard.
“If the animal trials are successful, we hope the human clinical trial stage can begin by November. Then the vaccine can be given a fast-track status by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to help the country develop and commercialise an India-made vaccine by as early as the end of next year,” he said.
He pointed out that the SIIL vaccine would be at least 100 per cent cheaper than other vaccines developed by multinational companies for the H1N1 influenza virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) — in association with over 100 companies and research institutions globally — is trying to develop a vaccine for the pandemic flu virus, which has affected over 162,000 people in different parts of the world and is fast spreading in India, too. Multinational companies such as Novartis are working on launching the first vaccine within a few months. In India, biotech companies Panacea Biotech and Bharat Biotech are also trying to develop the vaccine.
Sources said various countries have developed specific regulatory procedures to expedite the approval of pandemic vaccines. In the USA, for example, less data are required when the manufacturer already has a licenced influenza vaccine and intends to use the same manufacturing process for its pandemic vaccine.
In the European Union, the European Medicines Agency uses a rolling review procedure, whereby manufacturers can sendt sets of data for regulatory review as they become available, without having to wait until all data can be put together in a single formal application.
SIIL is already working on developing a vaccine for the H5N1 (bird flu) strain of virus with WHO assistance and has developed a seasonal flu vaccine, which is now in the clinical trial stage.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Tatas bring Nano touch to Mumbai's realty
MUMBAI: When Ratan Tata talked about his Nano dream, some enterprising builders promised the car free with a high-end apartment. Now, the Tatas are
all set to reverse the equation-they are making Nano apartments that auto makers could well offer free with their hot wheels. Tata Housing, a Tata Group company, on Wednesday unveiled its pan-India Shubh Griha brand, launching a low-cost housing township in Boisar, 98 km from south Mumbai and six stations after Virar on the western line. The upcoming complex, spread over 67 acres, is about 2.8 kms from the Boisar railway station and will have 1,000 small flats, the smallest measuring 283 sq ft of super built up area (SBUA) at Rs 1,380 per sq ft. Boisar, a town with about 1,500 industries and factories, has a population of about 10-15 lakh. "We are looking at first-time buyers earning a steady Rs 3 lakh to 5 lakh a year. Hordes of people travel daily between Mumbai and Boisar to work and this will be a good opportunity for them to shift to Boisar instead of living in rented accommodation,'' said Brotin Banerjee, MD and CEO of Tata Housing. Possession will be given in 2011. In the first phase, the company will construct 1,000 apartments priced between Rs 3.90 lakh and Rs 6.70 lakh excluding stamp duty. However, the these flats are tiny in size-a small one room kitchen unit will have a super built up area (SBUA) of just 283 sq ft while a large one room kitchen will measure 360 sq ft SBUA. The biggest flat (465 sq ft SBUA) will contain a bedroom, hall and kitchen. The difference between SBUA and actual carpet area of these flats would be 20% to 25%, said Banerjee. In fact, the tiniest flat will be smaller than the free tenements offered to authorised slum dwellers under the Slum Redevelopment Scheme in Mumbai. Each slum family is entitled to a 269 sq ft (carpet area) tenement. However, Banerjee said the Boisar township will also contain amenities such as hospital, school, post office, market, community hall, play garden and open landscaped area. Application form booklets will be sold for Rs 200 each at State Bank of India branches and flats will be allotted by a lottery. "We have a clause that prohibits the buyer from selling for at least nine months after allotment, to discourage speculators,'' said Banerjee. The Boisar project is being developed by Tata Housing in a joint venture with an unidentified land owner. The company expects a Rs 100 crore turnover from this project. Interestingly, many Mumbai developers who rode the property boom by catering mainly to high-income buyers are now enticing middle class clients with smaller properties outside BMC limits. Over the past four months, several builders claimed to have registered brisk sales of smaller flats in places like Thane, Virar, Panvel, Kalyan, Ambivali and even Nashik. Tanaji Malusare City (in Karjat), a Matheran Realty project, claims to have been flooded with applications (70,000) for phase one. About 40% of these are 300-sq-ft flats selling for Rs 3 lakh each. The Neptune Group is selling `nano flats' in its upcoming complex in Ambivli near Kalyan and claims to have received 1,750 bookings. The scheme has 2 BHK flats with a carpet area of 387 sq ft and 1 BHK flats with a carpet area of 233 sq ft, going for between Rs 1,499 and Rs 1,599 per sq ft. In Virar, developer Rustomjee claims to have clocked over 200 sales of its low-income houses. US-based PRA Realty, a land acquisition and real estate development company with offices in Mumbai, Pune and Chicago, is for the first time tapping the market for affordable housing in Pune, Nagpur and Nashik. Its proposed housing project on a 130-acre plot in Nagpur is looking at selling 1-BHK and 1.5-BHK flats priced between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 12.5 lakh. But the biggest rush for affordable public housing was witnessed when MHADA received a phenomenal 7.5 lakh applications for 3,863 flats across the city. MMRDA will soon have the first batch of 2,000 low cost rental houses ready in the next two months at Tanaji Malusare Complex at Karjat. The complex will house 6,000 low cost units which will have a minimum of 165 square feet, to be rented out at Rs 800 to Rs 1,500 per month. The developer will recover his cost by selling part of the complex at higher rates. Last year, a report on low-income housing in urban India, prepared by management consultants and merchant bankers Monitor Group, said it is possible to build for lower-middle class urban customers even with current land prices and construction rates.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The truth about swine flu
Evidence is emerging that traces swine flu to giant factory pig farms that are dirty, dangerous, and inhumane. Sign the petition to the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization to investigate and regulate these threats to our health:
No-one yet knows whether swine flu will become a global pandemic, but it is becoming clear where it came from – most likely a giant pig factory farm run by an American multinational corporation in Veracruz, Mexico.(1)
These factory farms are disgusting and dangerous, and they're rapidly multiplying. Thousands of pigs are brutally crammed into dirty warehouses and sprayed with a cocktail of drugs -- posing a health risk to more than just our food -- they and their manure lagoons create the perfect conditions to breed dangerous new viruses like swine flu. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) must investigate and develop regulations for these farms to protect global health.
Big agrobusiness will try to obstruct and scuttle any attempts at reform, so we need a massive outcry that health authorities can't ignore. Sign the petition below for investigation and regulation of factory farms and tell your friends and family and we will deliver it to the UN agencies. If we reach 200,000 signatures we will deliver it to the WHO in Geneva with a herd of cardboard pigs. For every 1000 petition signatures we will add a pig to the herd:
http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic
Last week the flu was all that we talked about -- Mexico has been nearly paralysed and across the world leaders halted air travel, banned pork imports and initiated drastic controls to mitigate the spreading virus. As the threat shows signs of subsiding the question becomes where it came from and how we stop another outbreak.
Smithfield Corporation, the largest pig producer in the world whose farm is being fingered as the source of the H1N1 outbreak, denies any connection between their pigs and the flu and big agrobusiness worldwide pays huge sums of money for research to argue that biosafety is ensured in industrial hog production. But the WHO has been saying for years that 'a new pandemic is inevitable'(2) and experts from the European Commission and the FAO have cautioned that the rapid move from small holdings to industrial pig production is in fact increasing the risk of development and transmission of disease epidemics. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that scientists still do not know the extent that infectious compounds produced in factory farms affect human health.(3)
Studies abound of the horrific conditions endured by pigs in concentrated large-scale operations, and the devastating economic impact on small farmer communities of bloated large-scale operations.(4) Smithfield itself has already been fined $12.6m and is currently under another federal investigation in the US for toxic environmental damage from pig excrement lakes.(5)
But even with all of this damaging evidence, a combination of increased global meat consumption and a powerful industry motivated by profit at the cost of human health, means that instead of being shut down - these sickening factory farm operations are propagating around the world and we are subsidising them (6). In the wake of this swine flu threat, let's hold industrial pig producers to account. Sign the petition for investigation and regulation:
http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic
If we resolve this global health crisis boldly by reassessing our food consumption and production, and urgently calling for an inquiry into the impact of factory farms on human health, we could put in place tough farm practice rules that will save the global population from future animal borne lethal pandemics.
http://cdn.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic
in hope, Alice, Pascal, Graziela, Paul, Brett, Ben, Ricken, Iain, Paula, Luis, Raj, Veronique, Milena, Margaret, Taren and the whole Avaaz team
(1) Biosurveillance report tracing the disease to the Smithfields farm: http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-fg-mexico-flu28-2009apr28,0,1701782.story
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=can-swine-flu-be-blamed-on-industri-09-05-01
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227063.800-swine-flu-the-predictable-pandemic.html?full=true
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/swine-flu-outbreak----nat_b_191408.html
(2) WHO pandemic information
(3) FAO, EC and CDC reports on the risks of industrial farming on public healthFAO and CIWF and
(4) CIWF and PETA video reports of the disgusting conditions for animals in factory farms and the disease ridden manure swamps:CIWF and PETA
(5) Reports on Smithfield's animal welfare and environmental damage
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/press/releases/new-report-highlights-the-trouble-with-smithfield-article03132008
http://avaazimages.s3.amazonaws.com/SmithfieldJan08.pdf
(6) Reports on UK tax payers subsidising factory farms http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/5225298/Taxpayers-forking-out-700-million-for-factory-farming-in-England.html
Monday, April 20, 2009
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